With eco-friendly developments being the main target for the UK government, the latest research result from the University of Oxford may have provided a massive leap towards the goal of carbon neutrality.

Although the findings are currently unpublished, researchers claim they’ve found a way to make solar panel materials that are as thick as a single micron To help put this in perspective, a single human hair is 100 times thicker. This means it can easily be placed on everyday objects, from our cars and smartphones right down to our clothing.

How does it compare?

The new material apparently already has an energy efficiency yield surpassing 27 percent, which is five percent more than the yield of traditional solar panels.

This was a hard-earned increase, with initial experiments only yielding around six percent. Compare this to the leap the researchers have made in just five years, and it’s clear that this trend may continue.

The researchers believe this development could progress beyond 45 percent energy efficiency, likely contributing to similar improvements in regular solar panel technology, too – albeit not for a long time.

In the meantime, anyone looking to make the switch to solar can find resources and services online, such as these solar panel installers Weston:redbridgeandsons.co.uk/solar-pv-panels/.

The power of the sun, in the palm of your hand

Perovskites are the miracle materials that allow for this leap in technology, being arranged in light-absorbing layers to boost efficiency without being too bulky. This tech is also 150 times thinner than traditional solar panel materials.

Although it seems like this tech may replace traditional solar panels, the idea is to aid them, as well as solar farms. Being able to introduce solar energy to unorthodox surfaces, or surfaces that wouldn’t be suitable for a solar panel (your mobile, for instance), allows for more widespread renewable energy to be generated.

With their smaller size and a lack of robustness, they’re unlikely to replace solar panels any time soon, but these perovskites are paving an interesting new path for the future of renewable energy.